Millions of viewers tuned into SABC 1 and witnessed the glitz, glam and the pizazz at the 19th Annual MTN South African Music Awards as Toya Delazy and Khuli Chana dominated the evening taking home 3 awards each at the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday, 11 May 2013.

For Toya Delazy who had kicked off the evening with a high octane performance alongside rapper Reason, the awards for Newcomer of the Year and Best Pop Album serve as confirmation of her newly found status in the industry after a breakout year in 2012 with her debut hit album, Due Drop Deluxe. Jax Panix scooped the Best Producer award the previous night for his work on Toya’s album.

The outrageously talented Khuli Chana finally had his moment to shine in the spotlight as all the years of hard work finally paid off for the former Motswako protégé as he took home the coveted Best Male Artist, Best Rap Album and Album of the Year awards.

Multi award winning Afro-fusion group Freshlyground scooped what must be fast becoming a familiar statuette for Duo or Group of the Year, further cementing their place as music royalty in South Africa.

The fiercely contested Female Artist of the Year award saw songbird Kelly Khumalo beat off stiff competition from a very talented field.

An emotional tribute to artists and other industry players that have passed on during the last year was movingly performed by Bongeziwe Mabandla, Nina Schumann, Steve Dyer, Herbie Tsoaeli and CH2 over a visual montage of these fallen icons.

The Album of the Year medley was one of the major highlights of the star studded night as Khuli Chana, Kelly Khumalo, Maleh, Ntokozo Mbambo and The Muffinz took to the stage and left the over 5 000 strong crowd in rapturous applause.

It was then left to the popular Menzi Ngubane and Sophie Ndaba to close off the night and present the coveted Album of the Year to an utterly surprised Khuli Chana.

“MTN congratulates all the MTN SAMA 19 winners for the all their great effort put into consistently producing quality music. The standard of the music over the past year has seen our artists continuing to showcase sophistication which is fitting as we celebrate our 10th year partnership with the SAMAs in what is their 19th anniversary. We believe that the MTN SAMA 20 next year will continue seeing new, amazing talent emerging in the industry to give us more of the best in South African musicâ, said Serame Taukobong Chief Marketing Officer at MTN SA.

Jennifer Su

The full list of categories and winners for the 19th Annual MTN South African Music Awards are:

Album of the Year – Presented by Menzi Ngubane & Sophie Ndaba
Khuli Chana Lost in Time

MTN Record of the Year – Presented by Serame Taukobong: MTN
Sfiso Ncwane Kulungile Baba

Duo or Group of the Year – Presented by Arthur Mafokate & DJ Pepsi
Freshlyground Take Me to the Dance

Female Artist of the Year -Presented by Theo Kgosinkwe & Nhlanhla Nciza
Kelly Khumalo The Past, The Present, The Future

Male Artist of the Year – Presented by Theo Kgosinkwe & Nhlanhla Nciza
Khuli Chana Lost in Time